Lok Sabha elections 2024: The suspense on whether Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra would contest the Amethi and Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh is likely to end on Thursday, May 2, as Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday said a decision on the matter would be announced in the next 24-30 hours.
However, there could be a twist in the tale as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is reportedly unwilling to contest Lok Sabha elections 2024 either from Amethi or Rae Bareli and he doesn’t want any family member to be fielded in these seats. In fact, Rahul Gandhi has now fixed plans to address a rally in Pune on May 3, the last date for filing nominations for the fifth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. The two high-profile constituencies will go to polls on May 20.
Amethi and Rae Bareli are considered as traditional pocket boroughs of the Gandhi-Nehru family as its members have represented the seats for several decades.
The Amethi seat had been a stronghold of Rahul Gandhi, who represented it since 2004, and he remained an MP from the constituency for three consecutive terms till 2019, when he was defeated by Smriti Irani of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Rahul Gandhi currently represents the Wayanad constituency in Kerala from where he had also contested in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Lok Sabha elections 2024: Amethi, Rae Bareli developments
- A Congress functionary on condition of anonymity told HT that party president Mallikarjun Kharge has been trying to convince Rahul Gandhi for Amethi “but it looks like his mind is made up”.
- Another official told Rahul Gandhi had almost agreed to fight from Rae Bareli recently but later decided against it.
- Unnamed sources told the news agency PTI that Rahul Gandhi is likely to contest from Rae Bareli, but the first family of the Congress has yet to take a final call.
- They also said Priyanka Gandhi is keen to contest from the Rae Bareli seat but Rahul Gandhi is not favourable to the idea, considering the criticism of dynasty politics by Prime Minister Narendra Modi against the Congress leadership.
- The sources told the news agency that a meeting to discuss the candidature for the two seats was held on Wednesday, but no decision was made. KL Sharma, a close aide of the Gandhis, said people are expecting the Gandhi family members to contest from the Amethi and Rae Bareli seats.
- Amid the mounting suspense, Jairam Ramesh said “nobody is scared” and a decision on the matter would be announced in the next 24-30 hours. “My expectation is that in the next 24-30 hours, the Congress president will finalise and a decision taken by him will be announced,” Ramesh said in response to a question at a press conference at the AICC headquarters.
- Meanwhile, a Samajwadi Party spokesperson told HT that former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has been kept in the loop. When they met during a rally last month, Rahul Gandhi is believed to have asked Akhilesh Yadav’s opinion about whether he should contest. The SP chief had said he was strongly for it. The Congress has forged an alliance with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh and is contesting 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
- As speculation mounted, Congress workers in Amethi held a sit-in on Tuesday, demanding that the party name a member of the Gandhi family as its candidate from the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency.
- The Rae Bareli constituency was represented by Sonia Gandhi from 2004 to 2024. Before that, Sonia Gandhi had represented the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency after she entered politics and contested for the first time in 1999.
- The Amethi seat has previously been represented by Sanjay Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.
(With inputs from Sunetra Choudhury in New Delhi)
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